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Sunday, November 6, 2016

NWAC East Tonight 11.5.16: Sasquatch sweep, NIC women advance to Final Four

In Saturday's quarterfinal action, three of the remaining four NWAC East teams advanced to next weekend's Final Four events at the Starfire Complex in Tukwila, WA. The Spokane women took care of business with a comfortable 2-0 win against Lane while the men drubbed Edmonds 5-0. On the road, the North Idaho women took a last-minute 2-1 decision at Clark and Walla Walla fell 5-0 to Peninsula.

The Cardinals are the lone lower seed remaining in the women's bracket with top seeds Peninsula (North) and Highline (West) moving onto the Final Four along with Spokane. Top seeds were not as fortunate in the men's tournament where two teams were knocked out Saturday - both in penalties. West three-seed Pierce, which surprised North Idaho 1-0 Wednesday, knocked Chemeketa out in the tiebreaker West two-seed Tacoma eliminated Peninsula in spot kicks, making the men's Final Four Spokane versus the three teams from the West Division.

NWAC PLAYOFFS - WOMEN ##############

(S2) Lane 0 :: 2 (E1) Spokane - The Bigfoot, in a rematch of an preseason 2-1 win, had the better of play against the Titans, who were missing one of their top attackers to a knee injury. Spokane scored back-to-back goals in the first half to grab full control of the contest.

A Sydney Weiler (Spokane, WA) free kick in the 19th minute from about 30 yards created the opening goal when goalkeeper Nora Goodrie tipped the ball off the crossbar, leading to a corner when the rebound was knocked out. The service from the left by Cali Moscrip (Lewiston, ID) found the head of Stephanie Overland (Moses Lake, WA) at the far post to give the Sasquatch the lead in the 20th.

Three minutes later Molly Webster made a huge save on what could have been a game-changing moment when she tipped a headed free kick over the bar to prevent an equalizer from Lane.

Two minutes later Overland intercepted the ball as Lane attempted to advance out of the defensive end. She quickly slipped the ball forward to a wide open Erica Simpson (Post Falls, ID), who placed her shot past Goodrie to double the lead in the 25th.

From there the Bigfoot rode into the sunset for the shutout win with plenty of the possession and six saves from Webster.

(E2) North Idaho 2 :: 1 (S1) Clark - The Penguins took the lead at home 14 minutes in with a strike from Ellie Quercia, but Jocelyn Cook-Cox (Spokane, WA) evened things up on a ball from Sterling Healy (Sandpoint, ID) in the 31st. The match appeared headed to overtime when a free kick from Jessica Scott (Post Falls, ID) was nodded in by Megan Lowery (Coeur d'Alene, ID) in the 90th minute for the upset road win by the Cardinals. Tiegan Horton (Dalton Gardens, ID) made five saves for NIC.

(E3) Walla Walla 0 :: 5 (N1) Peninsula - Maddy Parton (Leavenworth, WA) put the hosts on the board 11 minutes into the contest. Hoku Afong and Eleanor Small scored to make the lead three before the break. Parton set up Sydney Warren nine minutes into the second half with Sarah Reiber (Yakima, WA) capping the scoring in the 89th.

(N3) Edmonds 0 :: 5 (E1) CC Spokane - The Bigfoot controlled the match from the beginning and were consistently dangerous on set pieces. In the 22nd minute a corner gave them the lead when defender Kelly Kyllo (Spokane, WA) rose above everyone and nodded the service from Jared Davis over the keeper and a defender standing on the post.

Five minutes before the break the ball was stopped at the edge of the box by an Edmonds defender, eliciting handball shouts from Spokane, but it was all moot as the ball rolled to Eric Sanchez-Flores, who ripped a rocket into the upper corner of the goal from about 27 yards.

In the second half Spokane put things well out of reach. Before everyone got set in the 56th minute for a free kick, he sent it early up the right side to Sanchez-Flores, who sent it from the corner in to Breno Rocha for the finish. Three minutes later amidst a flurry around the goal, Jonny Cortez (Moses Lake, WA) dropped a short ball back to Sanchez-Flores, who blasted another ball into the back of the net from the edge of the box. Cortez wrapped up the scoring with one himself via Chase Reidt (Spokane, WA) in the 72nd and Kevin Alvarez made five saves for the shutout

(W3) Pierce 1 :: [5-3 PK] :: 1 (S1) Chemeketa - Despite having just four league wins and the only losing record among the playoff field, Pierce continues to move on. Paul Powell put them on the board in the 39th minute and they were eight minutes away from a win in regulation when Gustavo Mendoza tied things up for the Storm in the 82nd. The match went to a shootout, where Pierce prevailed.

(W2) Tacoma 2 :: [4-3 PK] :: 2 (N1) Peninsula - In a back-and-forth contest the Peninsula Pirates led twice, but ended up being eliminated in a shootout. Alex Ramos scored the lone goal of the first half in the the 24th, but the Titans pulled even two minutes after the break. Juan Carrillo put the hosts back in front in the 73rd on a ball from Ramos, but that advantage only lasted five minutes before Correa found Mackenzie Smith for the equalizer, allowing Tacoma to move on via the tiebreaker.

(N2) Whatcom 0 :: 1 (W1) Highline - Brandon Gonzalez scored 12 minutes in and the Orcas held off the visitors the rest of the way for the victory.